PlayStation Classic

The PlayStation Classic is a dedicated video game console by Sony Interactive Entertainment that emulates games originally released on its 1994 PlayStation console. It was announced in September 2018 at the Tokyo Game Show, and released on December 3, 2018, the 24th anniversary of the release of the original.[1] The console has been compared to competitor Nintendo's prior releases of the NES Classic Edition and Super NES Classic Edition mini consoles.[2] Despite this, the console received mixed to negative reviews from critics, with criticism for its weak game library, console UI, use of PAL versions and high price tag; though the console's design did attract praise.

Not to be confused with PS one Classics.
PlayStation Classic
DeveloperSony Interactive Entertainment
TypeDedicated console
Release dateDecember 3, 2018 (2018-12-03)
Lifespan2018 – present
Introductory priceUS$99.99
€99.99
¥9,980
£89.99
A$149.99
C$129.99
MediaInternal flash memory
System-on-chip usedMediaTek MT8167a, Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A35
Memory1 GB of DDR3 RAM
Storage16 GB eMMC Flash
GraphicsPower VR GE8300
Controller input2 controller ports
Dimensions149 mm × 33 mm × 105 mm (5.9 in × 1.3 in × 4.1 in)
Websitehttps://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/playstation-classic/

Specifications

The PlayStation Classic ships with two replica PlayStation controllers (the original model without the analog sticks), an HDMI cable, and a USB Micro-A to standard USB-A cable. An AC adapter for the console is sold separately.[3][1] The console weighs about 170 grams (0.37 lb) and is about 149 mm × 33 mm × 105 mm (5.9 in × 1.3 in × 4.1 in) in size, approximately 80% smaller in volume than the original PlayStation and 45% smaller in width and length. It includes ports for both controllers, HDMI output, and power via USB.[4] The controller's cords measure approximately 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) long.[5] It cannot use PlayStation memory cards.[6] Internally, the console uses a MediaTek MT8167a Quad A35 system on a chip with four central processing cores clocked at @ 1.5 GHz and a Power VR GE8300 graphics processing unit. It includes 16 GB of eMMC flash storage and 1 GB of DDR3 memory.[7]

The Classic uses the ReARMed branch of the free and open source emulator PCSX to play its games.[8]

Games

The PlayStation Classic comes preloaded with 20 games, running off the open source emulator, PCSX ReARMed.[9] Five games were revealed when the console was announced,[10] and the full roster was revealed a month later.[11][12] Some games vary between regions. The device does not interface with the PlayStation Network, and games will not be added post-launch.[13] Each game can be suspended in a save state by pressing the console's "reset" button.[13] Nine games use the PAL release (favored in most European countries) regardless of the console's release platform, which means they run at a slower framerate of 50 Hz as opposed to the NTSC standard of 60 Hz (favored in North American, Japan, and additional Asian countries), and may respond slower than players from NTSC regions would expect.[14][15]

The North American version of the dedicated console received a Mature rating from the ESRB due to the inclusion of Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil: Director's Cut. Likewise, the European version received an 18 rating from the PEGI group; European package also displays German USK 16 (PEGI for domestic use is banned here) and Australian MA 15+ ratings as it's also sold in Australia (another PAL territory). The system box recommends the system for ages 6 and up, and some individual titles such as Rayman have suitable ratings for that age group, but the console provides access to all 20 games, with no parental controls or settings to restrict available games.[16]

Games[11][12] NA/PAL/South Korea/Southeast Asia[11] Japan/Taiwan/Hong Kong[12][17]
Arc the Lad
Arc the Lad II
Armored Core
Battle Arena Toshinden PAL
Cool Boarders 2 PAL
Destruction Derby PAL
Final Fantasy VII [upper-alpha 1]
G-Darius
Gradius Gaiden
Grand Theft Auto PAL
Intelligent Qube
Jumping Flash! PAL
Metal Gear Solid
Mr. Driller
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee PAL
Parasite Eve
R4: Ridge Racer Type 4
Rayman
Resident Evil: Director's Cut PAL [upper-alpha 2]
Revelations: Persona
SaGa Frontier
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo [upper-alpha 3]
Syphon Filter
Tekken 3 PAL
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six PAL
Twisted Metal
Wild Arms
XI [sái]
These five games were first announced on September 18, 2018, ahead of the full game list reveal on October 29, 2018.
^ PAL . These games use the PAL releases.
  1. The Japanese console uses the western version of Final Fantasy VII, titled Final Fantasy VII International.
  2. Resident Evil: Director's Cut was titled Bio Hazard: Director's Cut in Japan.
  3. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo was titled Super Puzzle Fighter II X in Japan.

Release
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
GamesRadar+[18]
IGN5.5/10[19]

Critical reception

The PlayStation Classic received generally mixed reviews overall, with criticism being directed at the game line up, the use of PAL versions for certain titles, the use of the original controller, the lack of an AC adapter, and the $100 price tag. Tristan Ogilive of IGN criticised the console's lack of popular titles such as Tomb Raider and Crash Bandicoot, the basic user-interface and pointing out that "almost half of the games included in the PlayStation Classic's library are the PAL versions" which caused consistency problems in NTSC regions.[19] Sam Loveridge of GamesRadar+ praised the look of the console, but criticized the selection of games, the weak presentation of the games due to the black bars on the side of the screen, and the short length of the controller cables.[18]

John Linneman of Eurogamer's Digital Foundry also gave it a similarly mixed review, noting the console's subpar emulation, poor image quality, lack of enhancements and use of PAL game releases on North American units, though he did praise the user interface.[20] Chris Carter of Destructoid shares a similar opinion, citing that the emulation on the classic console is at times, "worse than the original", but praised the instant-state recovery and the size of the internal storage.[21] Joe Juba of Game Informer lamented on the lack of analog sticks on the controller, along with the lacking selection of titles and a barebones menu, which makes the system a good fit only for an "extremely specific audience".[22]

In response to the console's perceived weak game selection, many users have modded the console so any amount of game ROM's can be added to the console, essentially turning the console into a dedicated emulator, similar to software such as Retropie.[23]

Sales

The PlayStation Classic had sold 120,000 units during its first week in Japan.[24] Its sales were noticeably low in the U.S. (within the first four weeks over Christmas) with many retailers and websites, such as Amazon, giving discounts for the console as low as US$60 in several major U.S. retailers. Reasons for the price drop at this time suggested a combination of overproduction of the unit, over-pricing on the original cost of the unit, or disinterest in the unit, which had been critically panned by journalists.[25][26] Just over two months after its release, the console was further discounted by Walmart to US$40.[27] Another price drop to US$29.99, €29.99 and GB£26.99 in all U.S., European and U.K. retailers respectively followed in June 2019, as part of PlayStation's "Days of Play" sale events.[28][29][30] In July 2019, Best Buy and Amazon began selling the console as low as US$20.[31]

gollark: I should look at how Opus does its updates, since Opus is generally considered good.
gollark: I see. Your standards for "not too hard" are probably different to mine.
gollark: I mean, git is complicated and has many legacy things behind it, a simple CC updater thing with limited diff-ing capability is still pretty generalizable.
gollark: Admittedly I may just end up reimplementing half of what git does anyway, but I feel like I could probably have a simpler task-specific version with fewer problems.
gollark: I don't really *like* git, or specifically much of its CLI and some of its design.

References
  1. Machkovech, Sam (September 19, 2018). "Sony joins the classic-console fray with $99 PlayStation Classic on Dec. 3". Ars Technica. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  2. Craddock, Ryan (September 19, 2018). "Sony Responds To Nintendo's Success With Its Very Own PlayStation Classic Mini Console". Nintendo Life. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  3. Lieu, Johnny (September 19, 2018). "PlayStation Classic is Sony's new throwback games console". Mashable. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  4. Cryer, Hirun; Orry, Tom (September 21, 2018). "PlayStation Classic Release Date, Games, Price, Size, Weight, Resolution - Pre-Order PlayStation Classic - Everything we Know". USgamer. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  5. Carter, Chris (September 20, 2018). "No, the PlayStation Classic cords aren't really that short: here's their exact length". Destructoid. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  6. "小さくなった｢プレイステーション｣に懐かしの20作品内蔵。｢プレイステーション クラシック｣12月3日発売" [Built 20 pieces nostalgic for the smaller PlayStation. "PlayStation Classic" released on December 3] (in Japanese). PlayStation Blog Japan. September 19, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  7. "NREVIEW Sony PlayStation Classic (+ TEARDOWN)". HDblog. November 27, 2017. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  8. "Sony using open source emulator for PlayStation Classic plug-and-play". November 9, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  9. Kohler, Chris (November 8, 2018). "PlayStation Classic Plays Fine, But It's A Bare-Bones Experience". Kotaku. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  10. Statt, Nick (September 19, 2018). "Sony is launching a PlayStation Classic console this December loaded with 20 games". The Verge. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  11. "Announcing PlayStation Classic's Full Lineup of 20 Games". PlayStation.Blog.
  12. "｢プレイステーション クラシック｣内蔵ソフトウェア全20本発表！ 注目ポイントも解説！ | PlayStation.Blog". ｢プレイステーション クラシック｣内蔵ソフトウェア全20本発表！ 注目ポイントも解説！ | PlayStation.Blog (in Japanese).
  13. Dornbush, Jonathon (September 21, 2018). "PlayStation Classic Will Not See Post-Launch Games, Has No PSN Functionality". IGN. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  14. Glagowski, Peter (November 26, 2018). "Nine games on the PlayStation Classic will be PAL versions". Destructoid. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  15. Kuchera, Ben (December 3, 2018). "The PlayStation Classic's emulation is even worse than we thought". Polygon. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  16. "PlayStation Classic". PlayStation. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  17. McCarthy, Caty (October 29, 2018). "Japan's PlayStation Classic Full Game Lineup Is A Lot Better Than Ours". USGamer. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  18. Loveridge, Sam (November 25, 2018). "PlayStation Classic review: "A strange mix of joy and disappointment"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
  19. Odilive, Tristan (November 27, 2018). "PlayStation Classic Review". IGN. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  20. "PlayStation Classic review: the games are great but the emulation is really poor". December 2, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  21. Carter, Chris (December 4, 2018). "Review: PlayStation Classic". Destructoid. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  22. Juba, Joe (November 27, 2018). "PlayStation Classic Review –Repeating The Past". Game Informer. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  23. Bricknell, James (November 11, 2019). "Everything you need to know about modding the PlayStation Classic". Android Central. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  24. Valentine, Rebekah (December 14, 2018). "PlayStation Classic sells 120k in Japan". Gameindustry.biz. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018. Retrieved December 16, 2018.
  25. Contaldi, Lou (December 22, 2018). "PlayStation Classic Has Already Drastically Dropped in Price Following Middling Sales". Dual Shockers. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  26. Schreier, Jason (December 27, 2018). "PlayStation Classic Gets Huge Price Cut, Which Says A Lot". Kotaku. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  27. Broida, Rick (February 12, 2019). "Sony PlayStation Classic: $40". CNET. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  28. Fulton, Will (June 11, 2019). "PS Classic Is Cheaper Than Ever At Just $30 For Days Of Play E3 Sale". GameSpot. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  29. Hardiman, Jess (June 7, 2019). "You Can Buy A PlayStation Classic Console For Just £26.99". LADbible. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  30. Izzo, Antonio (June 8, 2019). "PlayStation Classic è scontata a 29,99 euro in occasione dei Days of Play". Everyeye.it. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  31. Sheehan, Gavin (July 15, 2019). "The PlayStation Classic Is Now Only $20 And Still Seems Pricey". Bleeding Cool News.
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